We are going to continue until Cuba is free…

Berta Soler Fernandez leads the Ladies in White, Cuban women of incredible courage who stand against their government’s attempts to silence them. They are all wives or relatives of political prisoners, and every Sunday they march peacefully through the streets in protest at the continued incarceration of their loved ones.

We asked Berta to explain a little more…

My name is Berta Soler Fernandez, and I am part of the Ladies in White movement. We begin by participating in Mass. We go out after Mass and we hold a protest march, peacefully and in silence with gladioli in our hands.

My activism really began in 2003 when the government detained 75 men and one woman just because they defended the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I and the other Ladies in White are women who are very well prepared, and aware that we are in a struggle for the freedom of political prisoners and for respect for human rights in my country.

How has the government tried to stop your activism?

Over the past two years, across the island, the Cuban regime won’t allow a single woman dressed in white, a member of the Ladies in White, to participate in Mass – and not just in Mass but in any church activity during the week… Truthfully religious freedom for us is non-existent.

The Cuban regime arrests us, even at the doors of the cathedral in Havana. There are even cases of women who’ve gone inside the church and have been dragged out. Unfortunately we also have priests who work with the regime, specifically in Cienfuegos, to remove the women. They say if you come dressed in white you can’t come inside the church. They have an agreement with state security and they are violating our religious freedom.

Why do you think the government is so hostile to religious freedom?

Firstly it’s not just hostile to religious freedom – the Cuban government is hostile to all rights that any Cuban citizen wants to exercise.

There used to be Catholic schools and when Fidel Castro took power they took away all those Catholic schools. The Cuban regime still won’t, for example, give any space on the radio

– not to us but to the priests, to the church leaders. In schools there is no religious education; the Cuban regime wants to control everything – this is with all rights, not just religious rights.

What is the greatest challenge facing the Ladies in White?

The government is now targeting our families. The government tries to divide families, to separate them, kick them out of their homes. They imprison the children, they kick them out of school or out of their place of work, in order to pressure the Ladies in White to stop their activism.

The challenge is to continue the struggle even if they imprison us, even if we suffer the loss of a member of our family or a loved one who are so important to us as women, our mothers or our children.

We are going to continue until Cuba is free, until there is freedom and they respect the rights of the citizens.

Cuba needs freedom and it depends on us – our challenge is to continue until we see change in our country.